Hot Mess

I used this expression at dinner with my HS friends last night had a bunch of blank stares looking back at me, I also got lots of "Did you just say hot "H-O-T" and mess "M-E-S-S?", "What the hell does that mean?", "I have never heard of that before", and Michelle just laughing her ass off next to me at my disbelief. Anyway, I used the phrase again with some context. "Amy Winehouse is a hot mess", all of a sudden the clouds parted and they understood. It was quite funny. How was I to know this is not a common phrase used in the world of working moms?
BUT...This post is not meant to give my 'out of touch' friends a hard time, it is really to celebrate them. Get ready for some schmaltz, it doesn't happen often. I have known four out of the five women at this table for over 20 years. The fifth is someone we all became friends with after college and have adopted her as our own honoree NDA(our HS) alumni. These five women are all working Moms. You are looking at an Architect, Attorney, Marketing and Advertising Director, IT infrastructure specialist and Paralegal and Court Advocate in the pic above. They have 13 kids between them including 1 set of twins, and 11 others who I know personally and through pictures. Of course I am constantly forgetting all their names, there are just too many. Sorry Ladies. My nephews are lucky if I remember who they are.
In the last 20 years we have supported each other through new love, breakups, weddings, divorce, pregnancy, ill children, death and coming out. It has been quite a ride but we are most definitely better for it, and I know this because when we get together we relive old stories, tell new ones, give each other a hard time and laugh, a lot. My life is much different then the ones they lead; kids, husbands and mortgages and I am always amazed how they keep it together with their humor in tact and let me tell you these are some funny ladies. I laughed all the way through high school and beyond with them. Of course it is good for me because I get to listen to the hilariously embarrassing situations their kids get them into and various other trials and tribulations of being a working mom. When Nat's (only select few are allowed to call her that) left eyebrow goes up you know the story is going to be a dozy and last nights pooping/recital story was exactly that. The boys next to us got an earful. I could not do it justice here. The delivery made it that much funnier.
They should all twitter or blog because it would be hilarious, but they all said collectively "We do not have time to Twitter." I do not mind that we have not hung out as a group in over a year, they did not know I have a girlfriend or a cat, the part fun is catching up on each others lives, and they always ask about my family and Ramona who I quote, "Has been around forever". These ladies knew my father well, that is something I will always cherish. And as we come the the end of schmaltz road, lastly, we helped each other grow into the smart, funny, strong, confident women I think we all are. We have definitely come a long way and I would not be who I am today if it was not for them. Plus, when they hang with me they learn new urban slang. As always our next date can not come soon enough.

Done

What is wrong with this picture? No it is not that some of us, me included, decided to not put our beers down when taking a photo with the Mayor of Boston. Look closer and notice what most of us are wearing after our 5K(Harborview 5K) run in JULY!!! Yes...pants, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts and jackets. Why, you may ask, because it was 60 frakking degrees out, and rainy...in JULY! Not news to some but this summer has been a wash out. We have not been able to put 1 whole week together without rain. The dirt in the the plants on my deck has been wet for two straight months now. It is gross. I know I have been bitching about this for a while but I am not alone. I along with my fellow New Englanders are DONE:

- With having everything wet
- With my hair looking like crap
- With walking Ramona in the rain
- With my apt smelling like wet dog
- With stepping on and crunching snails that have made my walk way their personal highway
- With my new kayak racks and kayaks not getting any use
- With running in the rain
- With damp pants at work
- With S.A.D

When July came I think we New Englanders were hoping for a fresh start. No luck. Maybe with August 1st around the corner we will get the summer we have been waiting for. We can only hope.

It would have been better if it was toasted

We are so tired we are laughing at everything this morning. We made it the airport for our 7 am flight back to Boston. Woke up at 4:45 and we are working on little sleep. We managed to grab some coffee and grub before boarding and Melanie keeps telling us her bagel is good but would be better if it was toasted, which Amanda and I find super funny each time she says it, and I think she has said it 10-15 times. Some other passengers on the plane are not fairing so well. There was almost an altercation behind us as some cranky lady did not like the way her carry on items were being manhandled by others as they were trying to get on the plane. Even after it was over, she had to get the last word in and lay into this clueless guy who speaks little to no English so we are sure he had no idea what she was yelling at him about. Jerk.
We are sad to see this fantastic weekend end. Last night after the game we got some quality time with Moe and Charla, dinner in their 'hood, ice cream and then back to their place to see the photobooth picture book from the wedding. It was sweet and funny. Such a good idea.




Some other highlights include:
- Badminton and pontooning on the lake with the Moe's and Clemintine
- Meeting Moe and Charla's friends and family, every one was so nice
- Church sign that said Even Jesus Says No, Paula Northorp
- The Bad Waitress
- Edie's private tour of The MN Institute of Art
- Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Tapas
- Mini Clemintine on Pontoon wedding cake



- The Saloon
- The cult of personality dykes
- Stumbling back to hotel after The Saloon hand in hand with brides
- Maia being told that the $5 reprinting fee is waived because it is her first time, after she lost her game tix on way to Metrodome. In Boston I think they would have just looked at us and laughed
- Getting 4 seats next to each other and game time bloody Mary's



-Twins kicking White Sox butts, punks
- Mel's nerdy excitement at seeing the Mississippi



- Looking at pics from weekend on plane and laughing our asses off
- Greatful to our Boston friends who took care of HC and Ramona.
- Being lucky enough to be able to travel to a wonderful city and celebrate our friends




-- Post From My iPhone

Ancient Chinese Secrets

Wandered around Minneapolis today in the glorious sunshine. We had breakfast at The Bad Waitress, a recommemedation from Moe. It was delicious, and we got to eat outside. This diner has self serve ordering from the menu, you just fill out an order form at the table and bring it up to the counter, then they bring your food out to you. Since you pay when you order there is no waiting for the bill or dealing with a waitress. I loved it. Plus the diner logo is cool.







A couple of other guests(Wellsley gals) from the wedding met us and we walked over to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. We had our very own tour guide in Edie who is a friend of Moe's from college.
She works for Sotheby's in Hong Kong and her expertise is in ancient Asian art. The museum has a large Asian collection and she regaled us with facinating info about different pieces at the museum. I was impressed and humbled by her knowledge. They graduate some smarties from that school.
This whimsical bronze owl is a wine vessel. One of the coolest pieces we saw. We really could of have spent all day there.






Now we are back at hotel and "Thrumming from excitement for big gay party" tonight as e_moe tweeter earlier

-- Post From My iPhone

Obsessed

I am loving my new iPhone. It is so convenient to have my iPod and phone in one device, plus all of the other fun stuff. The video is a great feature that comes in handy when you have a crazy cat.
The problem is I downloaded a couple of games from the app store and now Mel and I are obsessed with Bejewled. I did a search in the app store after discovering it on Facebook. The minute one of us puts my phone down the other one picks it up and starts playing. With all of this frakking rain, we have been doing a lot of sitting around. So of course we are trying to out score one another. At this moment I am in the lead. The only way to solve this problem is for Mel to get her own iPhone. Maybe someday, when she is done with her practicum work.
Oh yeah and another great iPhone feature, you can take screen shots of your phone. I just emailed this one of my new high score to Mel just to taunt her. Ha!






-- Post From My iPhone